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Bicycle-friendly
"Bicycle-friendly" describes policies and practices which may help some people feel more comfortable about traveling by bicycle with other traffic. The level of bicycle-friendliness of an environment can be influenced by many factors resulting from town planning and cycling infrastructure decisions. Town planning Assuming people prefer to get to their destination quickly, town planning and zoning may have an impact on whether schools, shops, public transport interchanges and other destination are within a reasonable cycling distance of the areas where people live. If urban form influences these issues, then compact and circular settlement patterns may promote cycling. Alternatively, the low-density, non-circular (i.e., linear) settlement patterns characteristic of urban sprawl tends to discourage cycling. In 1990, the Dutch adopted the "ABC" guidelines, specifically limiting developments that are major attractants to locations that are readily accessible by non-car users.Legislative Tools for Preserving Town Centres and Halting the Spread of Hypermarkets and Malls Outside of Cities: Land Use Legislation and Controls of Conflicts of Interest in Land Use Decision Making, by Ken Baar, Ph.D. Institute for Transport and Development Policy, New York NY 10001, 2002 The manner in which the public roads network is designed, built and managed can have a significant effect on the utility and safety of cycling as transport. Settlements that provide a dense roads network consisting of interconnected streets will tend to encourage cycling. In contrast, other communities may use a cul-de-sac based, housing estate/housing subdivision model where minor roads are disconnected and only feed into a street hierarchy of progressively more "arterial" type roads. Designs that propose to resolve the contradiction between the cul-de-sac and the traditional interconnected network, such as the Fused Grid, have been proposed and built with varying levels of success.Durning 1996 cited in Safe Travels, Evaluating Mobility Management Traffic Safety Impacts by Todd Litman & Steven Fitzroy Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA In the UK, the principle of 'filtered permeability' has been proposed in some Government guidance, to maximise the ease of movement of cyclists and pedestrians, whilst constraining it for motor vehicles (see: Permeability (spatial and transport planning). Cycling infrastructure The cycling infrastructure comprises the public ways available to cyclists. This includes the network of public roads used by other road vehicle users, minus those roads from which cyclists have been banned (most motorways or freeways), plus additional routes that are not available to other types of vehicle, such as cycle tracks and (in some jurisdictions) sidewalks. Aspects of the cycling infrastructure may be viewed as either cyclist-hostile or as cyclist-friendly. In general, roads infrastructure based on prioritising certain routes in an attempt to create a state of constant "flow" for vehicles on that route, will tend to be hostile to those not on that route. In 1996, the British Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) and the Institute for Highways and Transportation jointly produced the document "Cycle-friendly infrastructure: Guidelines for planning and design". Cycle-Friendly Infrastructure: Guidelines for Planning and Design, Institution of Highways and Transportation, Cyclists Touring Club, 1996. This defined a hierarchy of measures for cycling promotion in which the goal is to convert a more or less cyclist-hostile roads infrastructure into one which encourages and facilitates cycling. The CTC/IHT hierarchy # Traffic reduction. Can traffic levels, particularly of heavy vehicles, be reduced? # Traffic calming. Can speed be reduced and driver behaviour modified? # Junction treatment and traffic management. These measures include: #* Urban traffic control systems designed to recognise cyclists and give them priority. #* Exempt cyclists from banned turns and access restrictions. #* Provide contra-flow cycle lanes on one-way streets. #* Implement on-street parking restrictions. #* Provide advanced stop lines/bypasses for cyclists at traffic signals. #* Junction alterations, signalise roundabouts, cycle-friendly junction design. # Redistribution of the carriageway -such as by marking wide kerb lanes or shared bus/cycle lanes. # Cycle lanes and cycle tracks. Having considered and implemented all the above, what cycle tracks or cycle lanes are considered necessary? Traffic reduction Removing traffic can be achieved by straightforward diversion or alternatively reduction. Diversion involves routing through-traffic away from roads used by high numbers of cyclists and pedestrians. Examples of diversion include the construction of arterial bypasses and ring roads around urban centres. Traffic reduction can involve direct or indirect methods. A proven indirect method of reducing motor traffic, and facilitating cyclist and pedestrian use, is to adopt the shared space system. This system, by giving equal priority to all road users, and by removing conventional road markings, road signs and road conventions, capitalises on the tendency for all road users to respect and trust each other when they are interacting on an equal basis. No explicit, or even implicit priority is given to traffic travelling along the road, so with no assumptions of priority being possible, all road users need to be aware of all other road users at all times. scheme reduced motor traffic by 93%.]] New Road in Brighton was remodelled using this philosophy, and the results were a 93% reduction in motor traffic and a 22% increase in cycling traffic. Other indirect methods involve reducing the infrastructural capacity dedicated to moving or storing road vehicle. This can involve reducing the number of road lanes, closing bridges to certain vehicle types and creating vehicle restricted zones or environmental traffic cells. In the 1970s the Dutch city of Delft began restricting private car traffic from crossing the city centreWoonerf revisited Delft as an example, Steven Schepel, Childstreet2005 conference, Delft 2005 (Accessed 2007-02-21. Similarly, Groningen is divided into four zones that cannot be crossed by private motor-traffic, (private cars must use the ring road instead).Transport Planning in Groningen, Holland Bicycle Fixation (Accessed 2007-01-27) Cyclists and other traffic can pass between the zones and cycling accounts for 50%+ of trips in Groningen (which reputedly has the third highest proportion of cycle traffic of any city). The Swedish city of Gothenburg uses a similar system of traffic cells.The Impacts of Reallocating Roadspace on Accident Rates: Some Initial Evidence Sally Cairns Note from Road Danger Reduction Forum conference, Leicester, 16 February 1999. (Accessed 2007-02-02) Starting in the 1970s, the city of Copenhagen, which is noted for high cycling levels, adopted a policy of reducing available car parking capacity by several per cent a year. The city of Amsterdam, where around 40% of all trips are by bicycle,DIVV Amsterdam adopted similar parking reduction policies in the 80s and 90s. Direct traffic reduction methods can involve straightforward bans or more subtle methods like road pricing schemes or road diets. The London congestion charge reportedly resulted in a significant increase in cycle use within the affected area. ;Traffic calming Speed reduction has traditionally been attempted by statutory speed limits. Recent implementations of shared space schemes have delivered significant traffic speed reductions. The reductions are sustainable, without the need for speed limits or speed limit enforcement. In Norrköping, mean traffic speeds in 2006 dropped from 21 to 16 km/h (13 to 10 mph) since the implementation of such a scheme. ;One-way streets German research indicates that making one-way streets two-way for cyclists results in a reduction in the total number of collisions. Verkehrssicherheit in Einbahnstraßen mit gegengerichtetem Radverkehr, Alrutz, D., Angenendt, W., Draeger, W., Gündel, D., Straßenverkehrstechnik, 6/2002 In Belgium, all one-way streets in 50 km/h zones are by default two-way for cyclists.Le SUL Cyclistes a contresens dans les sens uniques Groupe de Recherche et d’Action des Cyclistes Quotidiens, Brussels 2006, (Accessed 2007-01-27) A Danish road directorate states that in town centres it is important to be able to cycle in both directions in all streets, and that in certain circumstances, two-way cycle traffic can be accommodated in an otherwise one-way street. ;Junction design On large roundabouts of the design typically used in the UK and Ireland, cyclists have an injury accident rate that is 14-16 times that of motorists.Multilane Roundabouts, An Information Sheet, Galway Cycling Campaign, February 2001 Research indicates that excessive sightlines at uncontrolled intersections compound these effects.Accidents at Three Arm Priority Junctions on Urban Single Carriageway Roads Summersgill I., Kennedy J.V. and Baynes D. TRL Report 184, Transport Research Laboratory, 1996.Layout and Design Factors Affecting Cycle Safety at T-Junctions, Henson R. and Whelan N., Traffic Engineering and Control, October 1992 In the UK, a survey of over 8,000 highly experienced and mainly adult male Cyclists' Touring Club members found that 28% avoided roundabouts on their regular journey if at all possible.Cyclists and Roundabouts-A review of literature, Allot and Lomax, 1991 ;Traffic signals/Traffic control systems at rush hour.]] How traffic signals are designed and implemented directly impacts cyclists. ;Coexistence with other road users Several methods of altering or reallocationg the carriageway (UK) or roadway (USA) to decrease the potential for social friction during overtaking and passing have been added to many of the manuals used by designers. Trip-end facilities Bicycle parking/storage arrangements See Bicycle transportation engineering#Parking subway station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, located at the intersection of three cycle paths]] ]] Other trip end facilities Some people need to wear special clothes such as business suits or uniforms in their daily work. In some cases the nature of the cycling infrastructure and the prevailing weather conditions may make it very hard to both cycle and maintain the work clothes in a presentable condition. It is argued that such workers can be encouraged to cycle by providing lockers, changing rooms and shower facilities where they can change before starting work. Guide for Employers: Showers, lockers and drying room, London Cycling Campaign, 13 September 2006 (Accessed 16th August 2007) Recognition In the U.S., the League of American Bicyclists has formally recognized some cities as bicycle-friendly communities for "providing safe accommodation and facilities for bicyclists and encouraging residents to bike for transportation and recreation." See also *Bicycle safety *Bicycle transportation engineering *Road safety References External links *Cycling for Everyone: Lessons for Vancouver from the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany (video of lecture by John Pucher) *Walking, Bicycling and Public Spaces: Experiences from Bogota and Beyond (video of lecture by Gil Peñalosa of Walk and Bike for Life) * Category:Cycling Category:Sustainable transport